A look inside (and out) of the workings of a 40-something individual, and his slightly-twisted view of the world...read as ye will, and hopefully it make ye think...

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Thursday, June 2, 2011

Annapolis, Silk Road Days, Being Stalked, Attacked and Questioned by the Police...And a Few Thoughts About New Jersey

Well, well, well...wherever do I begin? It's about 8 am; I'm back in PA, after my short mini-vacation was utterly trashed by some individuals I'll talk about in a minute.

I took a two-day trip down to Annapolis, MD for a Writer's Retreat. I wrote about this earlier; the aim was to get away, relax, finish the rough draft of "Silk Road Days," and have a little fun.

Well...the first part of the trip was okay. I was staying at a large chain hotel, because the price was right. Not a bad place, really; nice staff, clean room, though the restaurant fare left much to be desired.

I got to see a bit of Annapolis, which was cool, saw some the Naval Academy points of interest, but was not really there to be a tourist. I was there to work.

The good news is: I did finish the rough cut of "Silk Road Days." This is an extremely long, rambling bit of fiction, and I have a lot of work to do to get it beaten into shape. To get it done, though, very big accomplishment.

Here's where the trouble began...yesterday afternoon, four (at least) busloads of kids were brought in...13 year olds, with a woefully inadequate number of parental units as alleged chaperones. I soon learned the parents were out for fun a lot more than the brats.

Four of the kids were ensconced in the room next to mine; early evening or thereabouts, I'm aware of this screeching, crashing and banging out in the room next door, the hallway and up and down the hall.

I kept hearing someone say, 'Shhh,' or words to that effect, because at least one of them knew they were too loud. It just kept on.

I finally had enough. I went to my door, opened it, looked into a now empty hall, and said to no one, "What the fuck is going on out here?"

Ok, probably shouldn't have said, "Fuck," but considering these retards were from, it's every other word for some of them.

To my left, from the room, next door, I see a pair of girl's eyes peering out at me, and the door slams. Ah-ha...well, I left it at that.

Not long after I came out and found all four of the girls, door of their room open, standing in the foyer and the bathroom...I asked what was going on out here, and they denied anything happening.

Liars. Bad liars.

Still, I let it slide. At about 8:30, I left to get dinner and to try and finish the draft. As I left, there they all were; again, door open, queued in the bathroom to get mirror space. All not wearing very much (13, remember that), and some looking like they were wearing their mother's uncool from the 80's bustiers and shit.

I apologized to them, in case I'd scared them. They said no problem; I was curious, I had to ask what they were up to, and they said they were part of a class trip. Cool; I left, no problem, right?

WRONG.

I go get dinner, and I sit and finish the script. Relief! I get back about 10...now, the kids were having some kind of party in the first floor banquet room...and yeah, I rode down in an elevator full of kids, mostly girls to this thing.

The alleged parents were around, but really were spending more time hanging out amongst themselves, and as time went on proved they were NOT looking out for their charges, but more intent on looking our for what THEY wanted to do.

More on that in a moment.

Gotta love these alleged parents...all swaggering around the hotel in their knickers, their t-shirts, their gangsta tattoos and gold chains...oh yeah, and that's not just the men, either.

The kids are all precancerous orange/brown in color from the sun and tanning booths, all stick figure thin, all hair, braces and skin.

So anyway...I get back. Party's in full swing, and there's a few adults hanging out. I go upstairs to my room, turn on the Stanley Cup Playoff (fantastic finish, by the way, feel sorry for Tim Thomas, there was no way he was gonna stop that puck), and I'm playing my guitar. Not loud, not at all.

Well, I realize that outside MY door are four adults...three women and a man. They're just standing out there, doing nothing, loitering. Didn't realize why.

Anyway, I talk to Alice by phone, and she tells me about her night as a costume tech for "Beauty and the Beast." Someone apparently got hurt; I'm on my cell as I leave the room to get ice, and I say to Alice, "It's not a good show unless someone gets hurt."

Humor...irony...WHAT PART OF IRONY DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND, BALDRICK?!?

About 11, I am getting ready for bed, when there is a knock on my door. Two very large police officers are there, and want to talk to me.

WTF is this?

I let them in...they tell me that some of the alleged parents had ordered the hotel to call them about me.

I was questioned...my ID was taken and run by one of the officers...I was asked about my interaction with the girls.

"Did you touch any of them?"

I categorically denied any such thing, and I explained exactly what I have written above here. So I'm stuck in my room, while the cops go around and ask more questions. They come back, they leave, they come back, they leave.

Then the hotel manager calls my room. She informs me that the parents claimed I had made threats against their children; the conversation those four parents overheard me having with Alice made them think I was planning something.

Apparently, those four girls started flapping their gums, and embellishing their tale. It passed from person to person, getting more and more outrageous with each telling.

The manager, a lovely young lady was on my side. She said there was absolutely nothing to this bullshit, but to diffuse the matter, she offered to move me to a room on the Club level, or the top floor.

I agreed to this, and the officer in charge took me up there. He was as disgusted as I was; the story changed time and time again as he and his partner questioned the kids and the alleged adults.

No charges, no arrest, a lot of bullshit and blather over nothing.

Well...I didn't realize what potential danger I was in until I checked out.

I could not sleep. I got up at 4:30 to leave, and I did this just to take myself out of the equation. I did not want to run into any of these ignorant turds, and I did want to see the manager before she left for the night.

This lady was really sorry about what had happened. I had been very badly wronged, the police had been called for nothing, and then I found out what she had to deal with down in the lobby that night.

She described it as a "lynch mob." The mostly-inebriated alleged parents were after me; they had stalked me, staked out my room, and were looking for anything to get me on. They were convinced I had molested or otherwise done something to one of their little darlings (which they cared fuck all about a few hours ago while chasing means to increase their blood-alcohol level), and they wanted me out of the hotel, under arrest, or dead if possible.

Now, they never found out my name, because hotel policy is no personal information is allowed out, despite their demands. A lot of those alleged parents had been out drinking; because at 11 they came back from somewhere and were upset that they could not keep drinking because the hotel bar had closed.

Really looking after all those kids, aren't they? Letting the little brats run wild through the hotel all night long, while they're out getting trashed.

I guess they were pretty pissed off, and wanted me badly. I don't believe they threatened me specifically; I would have been told if they had, and criminal threatening is a felony.

Guess where those busloads of greasy, oily, tattoo wearing dirtbags were from? NEW JERSEY.

Now, to my friends who are from there and who live there, this is not about you; I know you, you are my friends and I know your character. I also know this rabble of small-town, "Jersey Shore" wannabes do NOT represent all the population of your state. But they sure do give it a bad name.

Of course, when members of said state have found God in Springsteen and Bon Jovi, and who think that Snooki, Vinnie and j-wow are cultural icons, well, that makes me wonder.

These people, these alleged adults who were entrusted to look after four busloads of barely teenage kids on a trip, were more interested in getting drunk, hanging out and partying on their own...they seemed rather content to let the hotel be the babysitter to their kids by and large.

Then the kids act up...someone (me) stands up for his right to have peace and quiet in a room that HE PAID FOR WITH HIS OWN MONEY (fuck knows where they got theirs), only to be stalked, attacked and treated like shit by a bunch of absentee watchers who suddenly smell their testosterone seeping through their nadds and their clits.

Sorry, but to be attacked like that, and the possibility of what bodily harm I might have faced if the wrong person of that group was in the hallway that night?

You have to think of the potential situation, and how violent it might have gotten.

So I left...perhaps this is overreaching, but I feel like shit. I have been denigrated, my privacy was violated by their snooping and stalking, and I had to be moved to another room when that whole fucking rabble should have been forced to spend the night sleeping on their buses!

Fuck them.

Know what it was like to be in the vicinity of those jerks? The sight and smell was enough for me: take a quart of motor oil and five pounds of dirt; pour it all over your naked body, rub it in and just inhale.

That's what they looked and smelled like; I don't ever want to be near that again.

This is NOT a slur on all New Jersey people, nor on any ethnic group.

This is me, pissed off and doubting that humanity has any real character left in it. Take a rumor, take a lie, take a half-truth, mix with alcohol, and watch out.

Fuck all those people. If there's a Hell, I'll be there to welcome them in. Scum.

I am still angry, can you tell? I don't like feeling this way, and I don't like having my character unfairly attacked. This is junior high school bullshit, when the loudmouth kid starts a rumor and starts repeating it, shouting it on the bus, screaming it in the halls, screaming it in your face, and knowing that the teachers don't give a fuck?

That's what these losers behaved like; adults in age, but not in maturity.

I have little faith in humanity anymore. This is what we have descended to. Lovely.

Tory, I wish I could say something more than "I UNDERSTAND." And share your rage. I will remind you that there are a few decnet, lovely and worthwhile humans on the planet-you're one of them. And you have a circle of friends who are as well and who are there to turn back the Dark. Love you, my brother, and I am glad you got out of there physically unharmed.

Julia, Empress Riz: thanks for your support. I'm waiting to see how the hotel's upper management handles this. I've sent a message praising their night manager for her professionalism and calmness under pressure; I've also demanded a refund. Goods and services I paid for did not get rendered properly in my view.

30+ years of professional broadcast radio experience. Morning Desk Anchor for WITF/Radio Pennsylvania Network. Author of "A Moment in the Sun," on Sunbury Press. First novel, "Parasite Girls" is available on Amazon.com and Smashwords. Reviewer/Critic for BroadwayWorld.com -- Singer/Guitarist/Songwriter with the Dharma Fools. Actor of independent stage and film productions.